


Parenthood

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Family, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 17:23:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2436818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I don’t want to be compared to her, thank you very much.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Parenthood

“If you don’t tell me what I want to know, I do have ways of making you talk.”

 

“Do what you need to do, Agent. Your tactics don’t scare me.”

 

“Oh really? I don’t think you know just how much trouble you're in.”

 

“Why don’t you enlighten me?”

 

Hotch grinned, he couldn’t help it. He started moving across the bed on his knees holding the handcuffs so that Emily could see them. She was resting against the pillows wearing a black bra and panties. Her arms were crossed and she looked like she could take him. Hotch couldn’t wait to see if that were true. He pounced and she giggled wildly, forgetting for a moment that they were supposed to be keeping it down. Hotch didn’t mind, he started kissing her all over. Emily ran her fingers through his thick dark hair and down his naked back.

 

“Damn baby, you feel so good,” he murmured, his lips trailing across her fragrant skin. “So, so good.”

 

“Mmm, Secret Agent Man.” Emily wrapped her legs around him. She took Hotch’s face in her hands, her kisses hungry and passionate. “Tell me what you're going to do to me.”

 

“Uh uh, there is no fun in that. I thought you liked surprises.” His hand cupped her breast. “I definitely have a few surprises in store for you tonight.”

 

Emily smiled, arching her body against his. She gasped when he squeezed her breast and that made Hotch grin. She could feel how much he wanted her and it excited her. Emily was so into him, and vice versa, that she didn’t hear the light knock on the door. But when the tiny voice called her name she sprang into action.

 

“Jack?” she moved out of Hotch’s arms, grabbing the tee shirt from the bed and throwing it over her head. “Are you alright?”

 

“I don’t feel so good.” He said, standing in the open doorway in his Spiderman pajamas.

 

“Aww sweetheart,” Emily got up and carried him over to the bed, sitting him close to his father. “Tell me where it hurts. Hotch, can you go grab the thermometer?”

 

“Sure.” He headed into the bathroom.

 

“My tummy.” Jack replied.

 

“So, what did you have to eat today?” Emily asked, putting her hand over his on his stomach.

 

“I had Lucky Charms for breakfast,” he said as his father returned with the thermometer. “Um, chicken salad for lunch and pizza for dinner.”

 

“OK, now tell me what you really ate.”

 

Jack smiled some, making the six year old look even more like his father. Hotch sat down on the bed beside him, running his fingers through his hair.

 

“I had some Cheetos earlier. I had a little bit of ice cream, some M&Ms, pudding, and marshmallows.”

 

“When did you have all that?” Emily asked.

 

“All day.”

 

“Alright. Open up and say ahh, Jack, I want to take your temperature.”

 

“Ahh!” Jack opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue.

 

Emily stuck the thermometer under his tongue, telling him to close his mouth. Hotch went back into the bathroom as it beeped. 99.7, not too much to be concerned about but Emily would definitely keep an eye on it.

 

“I think you might need this.” Hotch came back with the Pepto-Bismol.

 

“What's that?” Jack did not look happy.

 

“It’s Pepto.” Emily replied. “You're going to drink some and it will make you feel better. You'll be able to go back to sleep.”

 

“I don’t wanna.” Jack stated, crossing his arms. 

 

He was being serious. Hotch knew his son was notorious for hating all forms of medicine. It was like pulling teeth to ever get him to take anything. Haley had tried the flavors, the popsicles, everything. Nine times out of ten they ended up having to hold him down.

 

“Its cherry flavored.” Emily said.

 

“Nope.” Jack shook his head.

 

Hotch was about to interject but Emily held up her hand.

 

“You don’t want any?” Emily asked.

 

“No way.”

 

“Well you're missing out because not only is it good stuff but its going to make your tummy feel better.”

 

He was unmoved by her words.

 

“Well then I’ll take some and have the yummy all to myself.”

 

Emily poured a half-cup, drank it and licked her lips. Still smacking, she stood up from the crouched position in front of Jack, and moved toward the bathroom.

 

“Wait.” Jack stopped her. “Is it really good?”

 

“Delicious.”

 

“Well…” he looked at his father. “I can try a little bit, I guess.”

 

Emily smiled. She poured a cup and brought it back to him. Jack took it, thought about it for a few minutes and scrunched his nose.

 

“Is this really good, Emily?” he asked.

 

“Jack, it’s going to make you feel better. Does it taste like marshmallows, not really, but it’s not nasty. That’s a promise.”

 

He mulled over it for a few more moments and then drank it down. He passed the cup to his father.

 

“Well?” Emily asked.

 

“It was OK.”

 

“You wanna go to bed now? You think you can sleep?”

 

Jack nodded, hopping off their bed and taking Emily’s hand. She told him to say goodnight to his father.

 

“Goodnight, daddy.”

 

“Goodnight, Jack Jack. Sleep tight; I love you.”

 

“Love you too.”

 

They walked down the hall together and Jack climbed into his bed, clutching Constable Bear. Emily put the blanket over him, sitting down on the edge.

 

“Do you want me to stay until you fall asleep?” she asked.

 

“I'm OK Emily.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Mmm hmm.”

 

“OK,” she kissed his forehead.  “That medicine should make you feel better. Daddy and I are right down the hall so if you can't sleep or feel sick again just come and get us. Also, I'm going to put the trashcan by your bed. If you get sick, I want you to use it.”

 

“I will.”

 

“Good deal.” She kissed him again. “Sweet dreams, kiddo.”

 

Jack snuggled under the covers but stopped Emily before she walked out the door.

 

“Yeah, Jack?”

 

“Thanks.”

 

“That’s what I'm here for.”

 

“I love you.”

 

“I love you too.” She went back to the bed and gave him another hug.

 

Leaving the room, Emily stopped in the nursery to check on Sabrina. The eight month old was fast asleep in her crib, being watched over by her favorite teddy bears. She smiled down on her little girl, said a prayer, and went back to the master bedroom. Hotch was still on the bed, dressed in those grey boxer briefs and nothing else. Damn, 20 minutes ago Emily was horny as hell, and now…

 

“I think Jack is going to be OK.” She climbed onto the bed with him.

 

“Good job in getting him to take that Pepto. A little tough love, a little reverse psychology; you did well.”

 

Emily smiled, kissing him.

 

“Sometimes I can't even wrap my mind around it, you know.”

 

“What?” Hotch kissed her nose.

 

“Being a mom. I've always wanted to be, though I was never sure if I would be good at it. I worry about stepping on toes where Jack is concerned; I know there is only so much I can do.”

 

“You can be a mother to him. I know the situation isn’t the most ideal sometimes but…you grew up with a stepmother. You know how it can be.”

 

“There’s a difference there. My stepmother was perfect and my mother…yeah.”

 

Hotch laughed.

 

“Did you always get along with Nat?”

 

“No, but it wasn’t because of anything she did. I just didn’t like people. I didn’t trust them and I just felt like everyone I loved was going to leave so it was better not to get close to anyone. I have to give it to Nat; she didn’t try to be my best friend. She was just herself and after a while, the polar ice cap melted. 

 

“I didn’t see very much of my father the first five years they were married so it was hard to get close anyway. It’s hard to figure out if I want to mother Jack, considering he already has one or be a friend to him. But you can't be a friend to a six-year-old, right? And then what if he starts to resent me and tells his mother and she blames you and…”

 

“Hey, hey now, c'mon,” Hotch put his hands on her shoulders. “We’re getting a little bit ahead of ourselves here. Pump your breaks, Em.”

 

She took a deep breath and tried to put on a smile. Emily pulled Hotch into a hug.

 

“Parenthood is never easy, you know that.” He said. “It can be fun, hard, satisfying, awesome, bad, and any other adjective you can think of at any given time. Jack loves you, you know that. He understands that when he is here with us you and I make the rules. It’s not always easy for him to make the right distinctions, he is only six, but he is working hard just as we are. You got him to take that Pepto tonight, I don't even think Haley can do that.”

 

“I don’t want to be compared to her, thank you very much.”

 

“I'm sorry. I just think you should enjoy a victory instead of thinking ahead to the next crisis. Don’t you?”

 

“Yeah,” Emily nodded. “You're probably right. I don’t even know where all of that came from. I just…”

 

“I understand. I wonder how good of a dad I am every single day. We see monsters in our line of work and I worry that one day my children could be a victim of someone like them or turn out to be one of them. We just have to make sure we’re here, emotionally, physically, as much as we can be. Everything else is up to a higher authority I guess. It’s not up to you and I that much I do know.”

 

“Aren’t you all Zen about the whole thing?” she asked. Now Emily was smiling.

 

“If Zen is a newfangled word for petrified than the answer is a resounding yes. Baby, we are going to be alright; our kids are going to be alright. So…I think you should just relax. It’s late and you were relaxed before, then your pressure spiked a little bit, and now I need to help you relax again.”

 

“How do you plan to do that, SSA Hotchner?”

 

“Oh, I have so many ways, and I think that you like each and every one of them. Shall we test that theory?”

 

“I would love to honey but…”

 

“But?”

 

“You're right about one thing. It’s getting late and Bree likes to get up quite early in the morning. As parents we have a little window of opportunity for some romance; I think it closed.”

 

“It’s a little cracked.” Hotch replied.

 

“I love you, Aaron Hotchner.” Emily said laughing. “I love you so much.”

 

“I love you too. Can we at least get rid of the tee shirt?”

 

“The tee shirt stays; Jack might come back. But,” Emily got up from the bed and worked her arms through the sleeves. “The bra has definitely got to go. These damn things were not built for comfort. Not in the least.”

 

Hotch laughed, pulling back the blanket and holding out his arms for his wife.

 

“Come to bed, Mrs. Hotchner. I got some comfort right here.”

 

Emily exhaled when she was in his arms again. Cuddling under the covers, their limbs tangled together, Hotch kissed the nape of her neck. He loved the feeling of her body relaxed against his. Hotch was led to sweet dreams by the powdery scent of his wife’s skin and thoughts of making breakfast in the morning with his kids.

 

***

                                                                                                                              

  
 


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